It is not yet daylight but I know today will be special. Yesterday the sun was shining and the temperatures were mild. The breeze blowing in the window brought the scents of new life. It also brought the hope of a new day.
The trees are blooming and the flowers are beginning their array of colors to splash their beauty across the land. I do love the sights and smells. It makes me think back to long ago.
I grew up in the city but have always loved the beauty of nature. I love the bright lights of the city and the many things offered there too, but our big thrill as children was to go camping. We camped in a tent in many places seeing the beauty of mountains, streams, rivers, lakes, wooded land as far as the eye could see and more. I love to watch the little squirrels jump from branch to branch and hear the music of the birds. The early morning the dew would be heavy making the scents of the plants and flowers a perfume to inhale.
When I moved to a more rural area it gave me such a sense of peace as I could gazed at a beautiful sunset with trees silhouetted against the blazing colors creating their own patterns in the sky. I had three little chickens and fresh eggs daily. It was something I loved but there were things I had never thought of before….until the rooster began to crow before it was even the hint of daylight. I saw some humor as time went by and wrote a little poem…..
City Kid In The Country
I’m going to the country for peace and quiet, you see.
To breath fresh air and get a little rest, that sounds just right to me.
So many smells in that clean fresh air that my nose begins to tingle,
And the peace and quiet that I had found has set my nerves to jingle.
With the peaceful night and stars above, I lay me down to sleep,
But the crickets and bugs, birds, and frogs, made a noise that made me leap.
There’s a ‘Whipper Will’ and an old ‘Bobwhite’ I swear I’d shoot on sight,
And the crickets and frogs were turned on high, kept me up for half the night.
What was that walking in the brush, while the coyotes howled at the moon?
I’ve laid here, eyes wide open, it must be morning soon.
With trees all around the wind blew gently, but rustles all the leaves.
My hay fever I never knew I had, had my system beginning to wheeze.
I finally fell asleep and it feels so good, you know.
The sky turns pink but the sun’s not up, and that silly rooster began to crow.
Chicken and dumplings sounds good for supper, with antihistamines for me too.
This is the quiet of the country? What’s a city kid to do?
I still smile as I read the words from so long ago. There is often so much more to life and the simple things all around us than what we take the time to see or realize.
I still have allergies but will always love the sights, sounds, and beauty of nature. I love to sit out back under a canopy of trees hearing the laughter of the children and the voices of people sharing a good time and making special memories. We used to have trees so huge out back that you could sit there in a gentle rain and never get wet. The layer and layers of branches above not only sheltered you from the burning sun but offered a few extra moments to stay and enjoy the moment … dry and in comfort.
Trees that big would often drop branches and it would have been a bit of a job to keep up with the yard work….except….
That brings back another memory of a family reunion. I think back many years to when I was a young child. We would laugh and play and listen to the old old people sitting and talking. I would hear things like, “I remember back when…and… When I was a kid…..and….In my day we…..” and I would think how old they were and all I hear was about back in their day. What day is it anyway? What did they mean when they said “Their day”?
Now I see and hear a little more. I hear and see and realize that every day is my day…and your day. Every day is special and I do not want to take it for granted. As I was watching this reunion I overheard a group of young adults talking and laughing and sharing memories they had from all of the years. I saw the younger children running and playing. I smelled the wonderful odor of supper cooking on the grill and saw the smiling faces of those in my age range.
I heard things. The laughter of the playing children came and went as they were filled with the energy and excitement of their young age. One child stood for a moment listening to several people my own age as they smiled and reminisced. “I remember back in my day….When we were kids” and so on the conversation continued. I frowned for a moment watching the expression on the child’s face realizing the time had come that we were those same ‘old, old people’ and had to laugh. In some ways it might make a person a bit sad to realize that so much time has seemed to slip away.
When we were young it seemed like forever before we could get from one birthday to the next. I was 5 and then 5 and a ½. Now the years seem to fly by. I could tell you about the other day and then realize it was another year.
A group of young adults near me laughed and talked, remembering times long gone by watching over their own children as they played. I noticed them all laughing and shaking their heads in agreement looking straight at me. I paid full attention listening to find out what it was about me that could inspire such amusement.
This is part of what I heard…. “I remember. I sure do. I always did love the bonfires and cook outs and sitting around the fire with Marshmallows and hotdogs.”
“And I loved when Aunt Linda would tell stories.” Then they all began to laugh and share memories of times long gone by, and of the children they were from the past.
They continued to talk… “All of those years … I thought we were just having wonderful times and a lot of bonfires. After the ice storm last year we had so many tree limbs drop in the yard that the clean up was a mess. We tried our best to get the kids to help but you should have heard the moaning and groaning. “It was too hard; they were too tired, is that enough?” Those were only a few of the comments. We never did get those kids to help.”
At that point they all began to laugh again and look right at me. I walked over to join the group. My daughter smiled at me with a twinkle in her eye. “All of those years and all of those bonfires and it is only now, with our own kids and yards to clean, that I realize it was wonderful to have so much fun when we were kids but we were actually cleaning the yard.” When she said that, they all broke our laughing.
I laughed too and shook my head remembering. “Well honey, If I had told you all that we had so many tree limbs and branches down we had to get the yard cleaned I can imagine how well that would go over.”
“I know. I remember….” She smiled as they all began to laugh again.
I began to imitate and repeat from the past. “Now, if I just had a few little branches piled up right over there… we could have a lot of fun. I have some hotdogs inside and a bonfire roasting hotdogs… well …if I had a stick or two.” I joined in the laughter around the group as more people joined the fun.
“You kids nearly ran over each other gathering all the branches. It was amazing how quickly the whole yard was cleaned and not a twig in sight. Now picture in your mind if I had told you to clean the yard and pick up all of those branches…my way was so much more fun.”
No comments:
Post a Comment